<p>jahphotogal: Your last post made me smile- I gained 10lbs between January and March last year. Had I known about CC, I would have gained 20! Best of luck to you and your daughter!</p>
<p>@SharingGift - I applied to 14 schools ranging from the ones i really want to go to to the ones i will go to if i don’t get into my top schools and one my mom insisted i apply to so i guess the odds are in my favor</p>
<p>@RileyFreeman-I applied to 3 (maybe 4-we’ll see) plus I need FA, plus I don’t add any diversity to the student body in regards to stats…so it’s safe to say my odds are slim. However, as Effie would say, “May the odds be ever in your favor!”</p>
<p>I do add diversity and I have hooks but then there are other kids with my same hooks who may not need FA so thats not saying much I need FA also another reason i applied to so many i know it can be a factor for a yes or no</p>
<p>you have great scores so you have that in your favor mine kinda blow … good luck to you though! “May the odds be ever in your favor!” ٩◔‿◔۶</p>
<p>Psh. IMO, the SSAT scores are what get you into the ballpark, not the acceptance letter. But thanks!</p>
<p>I do hate the whole FA thing…the terrain is never, ever going to be level in this world. We will never achieve the Sameness in Lowry’s “The Giver”-no, we will continue to be surrounded by rugged cliffs, brutal hills, and rolling plains. It’s the luck of the draw to where you start-and well, if you start at the foot of a mountain, why not go up? Makes a much more interesting-though harsh-journey.</p>
<p>If you applied to 14 schools, I’m 99.999…% certain you’ll get into at least one. And everyone knows that 99.999… translates to 100 ^.^</p>
<p>@Exie: it doesn’t make a fair comparison if you slice, dice and mince the number of admitted to students to 36 and leave the total number of completed applications untouched at 3000+. </p>
<p>You’re right that FA would make getting admissions more difficult. But, as neato tries to estimate, it will be more like going from 20% to 14%, but not to 1-2%. In Exeter’s case, the difference will be even smaller since FA:FP=45:55.</p>
<p>My point is, we can improve the modeling by incorporating FA and other factors, but even for extremely selective BSs like Andover and Exeter, merits play a significant role in admissions decision.</p>
<p>The point I’m trying to make - especially with schools like Andover and Exeter is that no one here knows what is behind those numbers. I used to crunch numbers (guess I still do) for a living and they are easily misinterpreted absent details about the variables.</p>
<p>So what happens is that on CC there’s sort of a frenzied attempt to figure out the Vegas odds of getting in - and for the most part, given how many students with high scores and good resumes ended up with nothing, that’s the real bottom line. Do students with very low scores (sub 70) get spots without hooks. Yep. Just not advertised - and for the reasons I stated. There are many students who can do the work just fine, have post high school functioning, but can’t perform on an SSAT. Likewise, there have been admitted students with 90+ percentile SSAT’s who crash an burn on arrival - or survive for a while but aren’t around come graduation day.</p>
<p>Why I try to push away from this argument about scores, is because I’m frequently on the receiving end (BS and College interviews) of students and parents who assume they’ve secured a spot based on their performance. And also assume anyone with “less than” must have been hooked.</p>
<p>So - again, for some schools like Exeter scores mean everything because of how those student selections are made. But for other schools, they’re more of a Meh as the tests don’t always accurately reflect the human behind the numbers.</p>
<p>But since “90+” makes a good soundbite and causes families to rush towards them like moths - it’s an effective marketing strategy don’t you think?</p>